TideOver
by Never-Land-4always
Summary: Temari is trapped in Konoha during a huge snowstorm! When the Hokage and Temari are injured by a shattering window, Kakashi is set with the job of taking care of the recuperating Sand kunoichi. How will she deal with her feelings for the impassive ninja?
1. Chapter 1

OK, while I work on my poor SakuDei story, here's a pathetic little thing to say Never-Land is not dead, only writer's-blocked. My plot hates me.

Kakashi: This is not funny!

Never-Land: No, it is VERY funny (death glare)

Kakashi: You friggin' paired me with a nineteen-year-old Sand ninja!

Never-Land: So? The Kazekage's sister is practically begging for a Leaf boyfriend, and since Shika's mine, you get her.

Kakashi: But—

Never-Land: No buts!

Disclaimer: Leave me alone, lawer-monsters. Kishimoto-san owns Naruto and you know it. So put a sock in it, 'k? *growls and eats the closest lawer*

Tide-Over

Chapter One: Storm!

Temari shivered and pulled her cloak tighter. _Typical,_ she thought. _Just my luck to be in Konoha when the biggest snowstorm in history hits. _

The said snowstorm _was_ the biggest in recorded history, but what was really odd was that all the cold winds were coming from the east—the desert. This worried Temari. to no end, because her brother Gaara would have contacted her, their best jonin, if something was wrong in Suna. And 'something wrong' included cold and snow.

She trudged down the main street, watching as the bright neon lights dimmed and store owners fluttered at their windows, hoping they were secure against the harsh wind. Nobody would be coming to a restaurant in that weather, unless they had a death wish. Only ninja could move fast enough to not lose their way in the snow, so the civilians would be staying home. It was a common wish that day for the power to stay up.

Temari reached her destination, the Hokage tower, ice-encrusted and trembling. Her long black cloak did nothing against the wind, and it kept flapping open. She pushed on the glass door with a numb hand.

"Oh, my freaking God!" squealed Ino. "Temari, is that you?"

Temari was busy slapping snow off of her pigtails and didn't answer.

Genma smiled. He looked almost as lazy as Shikamaru, but was in fact the opposite. "Well, miss Temari-san, looks like you got caught."

Temari glared at the smirking man. "Duh, Genma. Now get your butt over here and tell me how to get this snow out of my hair."

Ino, behind the reception desk, grinned. "You can't, Fanny. It melts and then you have to blow-dry it."

Temari switched her death-stare from the chuckling Genma to Ino. "Stop calling me that," she growled. "I _will_ summon my ferret this time." She tugged threateningly on her iron fan.

"Whatever." Ino pressed the button. A door to the right of the desk audibly unlocked, gears clicking. Temari hurried on frozen feet through the portal and up a spiral staircase. She emerged in a long, wood-paneled hallway.

Temari, brushing half-melted snow out of her bangs and eyes, stomped down the corridor until she reached a plain wooden door. She turned the handle.

Tsunade dropped her bottle of sake at the sight of the furious, snow-covered kunoichi. "Temari, what on earth happened to you?" she asked, brushing shards of green glass off her feet.

"The snow. The Yamanaka girl. Cold weather in general," she replied.

It was then that the huge windows behind Tsunade shattered.


	2. Chapter 2

OK, while I work on my poor SakuDei story, here's a pathetic little thing to say Never-Land is not dead, only writer's-blocked. My plot hates me.

Kakashi: This is not funny!

Never-Land: No, it is VERY funny (death glare)

Kakashi: You friggin paired me with a nineteen-year-old Sand ninja! And you left the few readers who have read this with a cliffy!

Never-Land: So? The Kazekage's sister is practically begging for a Leaf boyfriend, and

since Shika's mine, you get her. And my fingers were tired from typing. I HAD to stop.

Kakashi: But—

Never-Land: No buts!

Disclaimer: Leave me alone, lawer-monsters. Kishimoto-san owns Naruto and you know it. So put a sock in it, 'k? *growls and eats the closest lawer*

P.S. I'm going to walk to the bakery with my family later, so this may also be a cliffy.

Tide Over

Chapter Two: Wake Up!

The nurse turned and shut the worn sliding door. "It's alright, folks. You can breathe now," she addressed the anxious crowd. She meant it literally. Gai was holding his breath as a challenge with Kakashi. His relieved sigh could be heard halfway across the village.

"Tsunade-sama should wake up in maybe fifteen minutes, but it's the Sand shinobi that I'm worried about," she continued. "She was standing right in front of the open door. When the windows shattered, all the flying glass and wind went towards the exit, but hit her instead."

"So how badly is she hurt?" called out somebody from the back of the crowd.

"She might not be able to feed herself, let alone walk, for months." stated the nurse, her face darkening. "We have to wait for the Godaime to wake before we can really know for sure."

The crowd of snow-covered ninja dispersed to other parts of the hospital. They had all braved the blizzard for their Hokage, and for the popular, sharp-tongued Sand kunoichi. Each and every one of them would remain at the hospital until they knew Tsunade was safe.

Kakashi remained in the hallway across from the operating room's double doors, his back to the boarded-over windows. Gai lay gasping for air beside him.

"Really, Gai," said Kakashi dully. "That was a little bit much."

"NEVER!" roared Gai, having finally regained control of his rebelling lungs. "The power of youth and my rivalry with you, _Hatake Kakashi_, shall always keep me ready for any new challenge! The score is now fifty to fifty-three!"

A red-nosed Genma wandered down the hall towards the two friends/rivals. "Hi, guys," he said, his voice rough.

"You've been drinking, Genma?" asked Kakashi. He raised one visible eyebrow. "How did you even get enough booze to get drunk? You have the highest tolerance for alcohol that I've ever seen. And in this weather, all the bars should be closed."

Genma smirked. "Sub of us actually have ad use a house, Kagashi…" He slumped against the wall. Gai took his shoulder and lifted the inebriated shinobi upright.

"And what happened to you to make you imbibe this much…?" asked Gai. "You rarely drink…"

"Oh, I was just feeling a little guilty, 'cause I was deh last one to see Temawi-sad before she got hut. I should have waned her abou' deh widows!"

**A/N: No, I did not suddenly start misspelling every other word accidentally. Hold your nose and say what Genma's saying, and you'll understand. He's DRUNK!)**

"It wasn't your fault, Genma," said Kakashi firmly. "_Everybody_ thought that the windows were strong enough. _Nobody's_ seen weather this violent here, ever. Not _one_ person could have known the windows would shatter and almost kill the Hokage and the Sand's ambassador…" He trailed off as Genma covered his ears and pulled a bottle of Dragonfire sake from his pouch.

Gai pulled away from the wall and took the bottle from Genma's slack hand. He sniffed at the bottle mouth. "Woo, that's some heavy stuff, Genma. You got this at a regular bar, hm?"

Genma took a woozy swipe at his bottle. "Nope."

Kakashi quite suddenly paled. "Um…Genma…." he began, haltingly. "Where… _exactly…_ did you get that sake?"

Genma considered Kakashi for a moment. "Well, as a mattah of fact—"

"Because that's my sake."

Gai dropped the bottle. It smashed on the floor, splattering the white-tiled floor with cloudy liquid.

"_Your_ sake?" he wailed, rounding on Kakashi. His eyes were streaming with tears. "Kakashi, you are an alcoholic! How else could you know the difference between sake bottles! Drinking is terrible for ninjas! How will you complete any challenges now?"

Kakashi rolled his eyes (Eye? One visible eye? LOL). "I make my own sake, Gai. Once I got very sick off a bottle of Moonstone from the bar, so I just make a few bottles every year. That bottle was marked with my handwriting. Duh."

Gai's red face began to go back to normal. "Yeah…"

Genma was on the floor, trying to pick up the pieces of the bottle. He was obviously flustered. "No, I didn't steal it. No way…You gave be this, webeber? New Year's present last year."

The red light above the operating room turned off and a small buzzer sounded. The double doors swung open. Through the portal came the Godaime, heavily bandaged and conscious.

Half the hospital came running down the corridor, shouting. First were all the ninjas, of course. They surrounded the wheeled hospital bed, laughing with relief and joy.

They quieted down when a pink-haired healer came out of the room, scowling. "ALL RIGHT, PEOPLE, WHAT IS THIS, A FESTIVAL?" she shouted. "I DIDN'T SPEND TWO HOURS PICKING GLASS OUT OF TSUNADE'S NECK JUST TO HAVE HER GO CATATONIC FROM SHOCK! CLEAR OUT!"

The abashed throng quickly shut their mouths and ran, none wanting the infamous Haruno Sakura to become any more apoplectic. They knew Tsunade was safe, and that was enough.

Sakura caught her former sensei's elbow before he left with the others. "Kakashi-sensei, could you come with us, please?"

He looked at her. "Because…"

"Oh, I just have a feeling we'll need you. And you should always trust a healer's instinct!"

They made their way through the hospital, weaving around the corners and jubilant patients. Everybody greeted them with vigor, especially their Hokage.

Soon, Sakura, Kakashi, and Tsunade arrived at a small sliding door. Kakashi tugged it open, and all three proceeded inside.

Temari lay, covered only in a sheet, on a high bed in the middle of the small white room. An oxygen mask encased he mouth and nose, and her hair was bloody and wet. From the little Kakashi could see under the sheet, she was even more heavily bandaged than the Hokage. It was a pathetic sight.

Tsunade spoke. "All right, guys," she addressed the healers standing in the corner. "What have you done so far?"

A young man, wearing standard healer's uniform (all-white jumpsuit, apron, and cap strapped under his chin) stepped forward. "Well, we removed most of the glass from her, and closed up all the arteries and veins the glass hit. However, there are still a lot of shards buried near her spine and brain. This isn't too different from what happened with Rock Lee, you see, so we didn't remove them. You are the specialist in delicate surgery."

Tsunade nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks." She turned to Kakashi. "Get me a wheelchair. I'm going to operate."


	3. Chapter 3

OK, while I work on my poor SakuDei story, here's a pathetic little thing to say Never-Land is not dead, only writer's-blocked. My plot hates me.

Kakashi: AND I get scared out of my mind. Nice.

Never-Land: Are you WHINING again? Good heavens, I didn't pin you down to be the annoying one. That's supposed to be Naruto.

Kakashi: Yeah, well.

Never-Land: ?

Kakashi: Most people don't know squat about me. That's why they think I'm so hot. Mysterious men always are. And that's also why they used to think that my best friend was Tobi.

Never-Land: Both of which were untrue. You are not hot, nor is the DEAD Obito, Tobi. But like, EVERYBODY knows that. *thinks* _Actually, he is cute in not-a-crush way. Why else would I write this?_

Disclaimer: I own only my socks. And that desktop painting. And that ugly pink hair scrunchie. Not this.

Tide Over

Chapter Three: False Success…Or Not.

Tsunade leaned back, the forceps clattering onto the floor. "I don't know…If she doesn't wake up within an hour, it's a lost cause."

Kakashi, beside her, turned and stripped off his latex gloves. Tsunade had needed a ninja's speed to help her and to hand her the instruments, and Kakashi hadn't left the room quite fast enough when Sakura insisted that she was "All done, nope, no WAY. My neck hurts just from operating on Tsunade."…and left for coffee.

The Hokage relaxed in her wheelchair for a moment, letting her transformation jutsu slip for a second—no more. It was exhausting, really. Doing a delicate operation like that, minutes after her own major surgery? _Feh. It's pathetic—if nobody in this entire hospital but a fifty-three-year-old can pick glass shards out of spinal cords, then Sakura really has her work cut out for her. Teaching, my foot! Nobody here but her could even figure out how to hold the little scalpels right! _

Kakashi wheeled Tsunade out of the operating theatre, an orderly pushing Temari's bed after them. They traveled along the much more empty corridors. The only sound to be heard was the gurney's wheels squeaking like insane fangirly mice-

NOT.

"**WHAT THE F***?**"

Kakashi, even with his ninja senses, did not, even a little bit, expect _that_ level of sound from a half-dead person's mouth. He jerked, jolting Tsunade. She grunted and rose, scowling.

_What? She was making me push her around when she could walk already…? Pfff. How kind._

Temari was lying flat, completely motionless except for her face. Including, unfortunately, her mouth. Her eyes flicked this way and that, searching for something to glare at.

"What. The. F***ing. Hell." she said slowly. "What happened?"

The orderly was trembling, her back to the hall wall. Tsunade glanced at the woman and turned to Temari, who was still lying on a bed in the middle of a hall, buck-naked except for a sheet.

"Well, missy, you had the misfortune to share my luck this time around. You got hit by three windows and half a dozen panes of picture glass when that gale blew through."

"But I can't move…" Temari's initial burst of manic energy was fading fast, leaving her limp. Like a balloon after a crazy toddler with a pin was done with it.

Kakashi stepped around Tsunade. Temari scowled at him, and then returned her gaze to Tsunade. He shook his head slowly, feeling sorry for her. It was every ninja's nightmare to be trapped—unable to even move enough to throw a senbon.

_**Three (VERY long and annoying ) Months Later…**_

Temari felt like crap. Crap which couldn't walk. Or sit up.

Tsunade said she would recover fully in a few months more—then she would be able to go home and take care of her plants, and go on missions.

Shikamaru walked in. He was a good friend, although he was infuriating most of the time. Two years or so younger than her; brown, _really_ spiky ponytail, and an attitude which matched Temari's on a bad day.

"So…" he said, sitting in the chair beside her bed.

"So what…?" Temari snapped. She had become fed up with the stupid cold hospital several weeks ago.

"So they're letting you out, it seems." He carefully watched her reaction.

"What?" she blurted. "No, that can't be right. I can hardly, though it kills me to admit it, _feed_ myself—let alone go on missions."

"Well, I heard Shizune talking with some other chunin, and they want to put in another ninja's home…so that you can go outside more, and maybe do the exercises forbidden in the physical therapy room."

Temari snorted. Those gosh dang civilian nurses just didn't know how to play catch. It wasn't her fault about her spazzy wrist going wild with a medicine ball in it.

Shizune walked in, holding a clipboard. "Good morning, Temari-san," she sang.

"Yeah." Temari grunted. Shikamaru, seeing the danger, left the room.

"Well, it seems like-"

"Yeah, Shikamaru told me already. I'm getting out, and staying in someone else's house."

Shizune blinked. And stared. And didn't bother moving when Temari chucked a glass vase at her—except, of course, to flick up a hand and catch it.

"I swear, sometimes it seems like he spies for you." Shizune finally commented, stepping over to the invalid's bed. "Open."

Temari opened her mouth and a sour paste was squeezed in. It was her daily stimulant, made to activate the inactive nerves around her back and legs. Yuck, yuck. She supposed it had orange zest in it, which gave it that bitter aftertaste.

Shizune flipped the empty tube into a wastebin and started going over something on her clipboard. If Temari had been able to sit up, she would have easily seen the paper.

"Well, Temari-san, it seems that a lot of our ninja are busy right now. What with the recent snowmelt floods, missions have been flooding in."

Temari growled.

"Yes, yes. Be patient." Shizune flipped a couple pages. "Well, Anko…"

Temari perked up. Anko, the belligerent, bloodthirsty kunoichi, was a good friend to Temari.

"…Is currently in a—ahem—_relationship_, so her house may not be the best environment for you." Shizune said, reddening.

Temari huffed.

"But Kakashi isn't busy. He also has a fairly large house. So, it's decided. You will be Hatake-san's guest until you recover."

Temari was very, very quiet. In a not-good way.

**YAY! I finished this chapter! It's longer than usual…and it took me longer to type…and to actually put up on FanFic…=_=; **

**REVIEW! Whatever, flame it if you want. Go ahead and heat Naruto's ramen! ** ** I LOVE reviews, because they show that you care and that you want to read more and that maybe you even like my story! **

**Hugz! **

**~~~The Queen of Utter Randomness**

**A.K.A. : Katya, and Never-Land. **


	4. Chapter 4

OK, while I work on my poor SakuDei story, here's a pathetic little thing to say Never-Land is not dead, only writer's-blocked. My plot hates me.

Kakashi: …I'm tired.

Never-Land: Because you were asleep the entire time my computer was confiscated?

Kakashi: Maaaayyybeeeee….

Never-Land: NO, DO NOT—Oh crap. *yawns*

Kakashi: Morning-breath.

Never-Land: Was that necessary? I'm sick. I yawned in Technicolor. Leave me alone.

Disclaimer: Do YOU own it?

Tide Over

Chapter Four: The Big White House

The wheelchair bumped over the gravel path, Temari jerking in the stupid embarrassing straps. Kakashi was silent, except for the occasion quiet breath.

The path they were on was a short one, lined with willow trees. It hid Kakashi's house from view behind a screen of trailing leaves. Temari turned her head as they passed, marveling at the gorgeous willows.

As the house came into view, Temari opened her green eyes wide. The white building was in classic Western style, with a shady roof, gabled windows, and a red brick chimney poking out of one end like a watch tower.

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask, noticing her surprise. "Like it?" he enquired.

She struggled to turn and face Kakashi…and failed miserably. "It's alright."

His grin crinkled up as they reached the porch steps. "I inherited this recently. It was my mother's house, the one she lived in as a child."

Temari attempted to shrug…and, to her utter delight, found that she could. Her arms had started working a week ago. They were trembling and not really fully functional, but she could at least wheel herself around, and move from a bed to the chair and vice versa.

Kakashi stepped away from her wheelchair to unlock the door with an antique skeleton key. The lock obviously was as old as the house, even though it was polished and scratch-free.

The inside of the house was just as beautiful as the outside, in a Western way. The ceilings were low and matched the walls—covered in delicately carved black oak. Tiny alcoves were set deep into the walls, each holding a different ceramic kami.

Delicate Japanese tatami mats were scattered across the blue-gray granite floor. Around the doorways that Temari could see, the stone was worn to a bright shiny surface.

Windows filled the walls, letting in the bright golden spring sunlight. It streamed across the living room, which was on the south side of the house. Red square-ish couches sat in a rectangle around a huge go board. The pieces were scattered around the squares like the game had been stopped in the middle.

Kakashi wheeled Temari through the entire house, pointing out the modern kitchen, the basement, the pantry, and the glass door to the small backyard. Then he unexpectedly turned off into a narrow corridor, with a few flame-shaped light bulbs covered in red silk lighting it.

"This is your room," he said, stopping the chair. Temari twisted to see him opening a door that was very well blended into the woodwork, with a tarnished bronze handle. He returned, and, gripping the wheelchair handles, pushed her inside.

It was a gorgeous room, facing the east so she could see the sun as it came up in the morning. A small bed, covered in a deep, rich golden-brown duvet, sat in the far corner, flanked by two tiny tables. One held an old-fashioned alarm clock, and the other held a reading lamp. Its base was gold-painted, and shaped like the sun kami. The shade was deep red and fringed with a half-inch of satin tassels.

The floor was completely covered by a colorful, braided cotton rug. In and out of the knotted red, orange, yellow, lime green, robin's egg blue and royal violet wove slender threads of gold, making the whole thing sparkle when Kakashi walked on it.

There was a bookshelf by the door, and Temari gripped the rims of her wheels. She pushed, and the chair came trundling forward so she could look at the titles. Kakashi left the room to get her bags, the door left open behind him.

Temari saw Western and Japanese classics, brand-new novels, cross-bow manuals, custom weapons catalogs, fluff rags, and so many other shredded trees that the tiny letters started to blur.

But the Icha-Icha wasn't funny at all…and at the end of the day Kakashi had a black eye.

**Yesss I am SO sorry for the late late update! My parents confiscated my power cord and I only got it back today!**

** REVIEW because I have so many hits and like NO REVIEWS. I am insulted! LOL but really do review. Hugz!**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Come ON, people! REVIEW! This is sooo not fun. I have hits from Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Australia, Russia, Brazil, and literally a dozen other countries. And do you know how many REVIEWS I have? - , for the love of Jashin! Reviews are what keeps an author motivated! **__**DX**_

_**Also, I recently got my first flame. See my profile for the awesome flamer curse I put up!**_

Kakashi: Remind me why I had a black eye? She could have hurt my Sharingan!

Never-Land: BECAUSE you put perverted books in Temari-san's room. Don't forget, the element of surprise is a wonderful thing.

Kakashi: But I thought she'd like th—Oops. NO, I don't think she's perverted. Just—Ugh, why is this so hard to explain?

Never-Land: Go write down your feeling and reflect on them. Then we can sit down and have a nice long talk about those feelings. You see, I am the All-Knowing Guru of Talking It Out.

Kakashi: Wow. People don't call you the Queen of Utter Randomness for nothing. Scaryyyy. I'm scaaaaared.

Never-Land: I feel like tacos. (WIN if you understand the song reference) ;D

Disclaimer: Yes! Of COURSE I own it! That's why, if you look at my profile, you will find that I am a middle-aged MALE Japanese incredibly creative MARRIED manga-ka who writes fanfiction in my spare time. Who is named Masashi Kishimoto. Don't you have better things to do than to sue people for wielding creative license?

Also, I would like to apologize for the EXTREME (It went too far) randomness of the last chapter. I just typed as fast as I could, with little regard for the relevancy of the mini-plot there. I was aiming to get a chapter out before my Internet cut-off time (8:00 pm DX). HOWEVER, Shuriken-chan tells me that the way I described the house was very good. So, thank you!

Tide Over

Chapter Five: The Torso Twister (Dance Move Remix)

There is no fun in being paralyzed. Even if you can feed yourself, and hold a book, and do other necessary things, it sucks to have the ability to run, and jump, and skip like a little girl to the mailbox at five in the morning taken away from you.

Please try to imagine this happening to you. Try to get up from this computer that you read these words upon and go out the door of whatever room you're in with NO help from the leg area. NOT. FUN.

Temari was currently in a very apathetic mood. Nothing interested her. She took her meds, ate toast, and moped around in her squeaky wheelchair. It had been almost five months since the accident, and not a single thing in her whole arsenal of motor functions worked except her arms, shoulders, neck, and head. That is very small area if you think about it.

Kakashi was no help either. In fact, he may have been the worst choice for cheering up a semi-friend/formal acquaintance. He just hung around, making toast at regular intervals, and reading his little orange books. He spoke little, except to ask about her toast topping preferences of the day and to answer the rare question Temari aimed at him. Once in a while he chuckled at some undoubtedly adult-only phrase in Jiraiya's "masterpiece". That was it.

Temari played go with herself, and sometimes with Kakashi. Shikamaru was extremely busy with the spring chunin exams, and could only come over once or twice a week—if that. But he taught her a few strategies that really cleared up the obtuse game for her.

The square red couches, upholstered in some kind of soft, thick cotton, were the perfect place to lie and watch the little but delicately foliaged backyard through the huge plate-glass windows. Buds were beginning to frost the plum tree close to the brick patio, making it look like it was still winter sometimes, at first glance.

Temari missed, crazy as it sounded, taking care of her little house plants at home, in Suna. The few fluffy and prickled cacti, the trailing baby's breath. Her three ancient bonsai trees, twisted until they looked like grumpy old women. She had to settle for watching spring pass by through glass.

Then Kakashi finally noticed his guest's depression. "Temari, what's bugging you?" he inquired, sitting cross-legged on the couch beside her. His spiky argent hair cast a shadow in the bronzed evening light from the window behind him. The supple, solid shadow rippled over Temari's feet and the go board in front of them.

Temari raised her head. "I dunno. Everything, I guess. I'm stuck here—Konoha, not your awesome house—and spring is going right past me."

Kakashi shifted so he was sitting properly on the couch. "Well, just ask and I'll take you outside."

_*Slap* I. Am. An. Idiot. Why didn't I ask him already? Baka me, baka. _

Temari nodded her assent. She raised her limp body up on her now-steady arms and started to get into the wheelchair that sat at her elbow. Kakashi started to help but she waved him off.

They moved out of the open living room and over to the darker, lamp-lit main hall/room. It contained some dark iron-wood side tables wreathed in dry asters, framed antique ink paintings, and the stairs to the attic. Of course, Temari hadn't been into the attic.

At the back was a sliding glass door, perfectly clear. It was edged with white-varnished steel…an unusual color for the dark red-brown-tan-ochre color scheme of the rest of the house.

Kakashi slid the door open, the fluffy padding making a soft _shhh_ noise in its frame. He gripped the two jutting leather handles of Temari's wheelchair—and shoved.

The backyard was gorgeous. The grass, long, soft, and damp, was bent into a carpet for the wheels of her chair, so she trundled along easily. The ferns and hydrangeas that bordered the smooth wooden fence were not yet taking to the spring weather, and remained resolutely brown and veiny, like the hands of old grandmothers.

Temari the happiest she'd been in forever. Suna just didn't have this kind of vegetation, no matter how expensive your greenhouse was. And the bronzy evening sun was warm.

Kakashi, seeing that Temari could manage herself, turned to go back into the house. "I'll leave the door open for you," he called over his shoulder. And as Temari nodded, she noticed his crinkled eye.

Kakashi was grinning like Naruto with a half-off ramen coupon. _Huh. She likes the garden._

**Halloo persons! As The Cat's Favorite Pyjamas said, love is not quick right after some initial hatred. I'm gonna try to take this slowly, so back. The. Heck. Off. (directed to "anon", flamer extraordinaire) **

**PCEOUT KTHNXBAI ~Katya**


	6. Chapter 6

Yeeeeaaaahhhh...So, I´ve got like 15 minutes to do this before my parents are at me to STUDY DO MATH FILL IN MAPS CONJUGATE FRENCH VERBS BLAH BLAH BLAH...

So yeah.

Forgive me. (Hits head on floor in a very deep bow...=.=;)

Kakashi: No time! Gotta go!

Never-Land: Totally.

Disclaimer: And a sneeze to you, too.

Chapter Six: Window Into Her Heart

Every day, Kakashi now shoved Temari´s wheelchair into the backyard. She was much stronger now, and she turned the wheels with ease. The days were sunnier and the dirt was drier. The delicately budded tree of two months ago was now a half-flowered monument to spring.

Temari´s eyes were now bright with a spark that Kakashi had not seen since Temari first found out where Naruto kept his ramen coupons—supressed laughter that leaked out in lop-sided grins and the occasional hummed desert aria. He watched from the kitchen window as she reached down to twist weeds from the higher planter boxes, and pinched off last year´s crinkled flowers.

And then, sometimes, he would watch her sit with the sun on her face, a strong and slender hand resting on a little fiddle-headed cluster of ferns, or quickly flying around a daisy chain. She had the most pure and simple joy on her face at those times, like a little girl collapsing in the grass after a long run.

He couldn´t understand her. Kunoichi were meant to move with great responsibility, with seriousness and maturity—not this light-hearted pleasure that matched the consistency of dandelion fluff. Even the gossipy Yamanaka girl´s over-open face and huge grin didn´t seem to have the same depth as Temari alone in the garden.

Temari pushed one wheel with her left hand, the warm grass twisting as her chair turned. In her right hand was a fragile orange day-lily, the first of the year.

A curtain twitched, and Temari swiveled her deep forest-green eyes to the house.

Kakashi stood at the kitchen window, his bright hair spiking over his headband and navy mask. He stood in a comfortable posture, like he had been standing there for a while. His exposed face was smooth, but his large dark eye was narrowed as if in confusion. A bent knuckled rested where his lower lip would be, giving the tall man an overall air of contemplative befuddlement. He didn't know she was looking, apparently.

Temari was making the same face inside her head.

WEEELLLLL? Of course it´s short, but is it pretty? Overdone? REVIEW!

I LOVE YOU ALL.

Hugz,

~Never-Land


	7. Chapter 7

_**I'm pouting…Is my story that bad? Please tell me! REVIEW! And my humongous thanks to Shuriken-chan, for reviewing and supporting my whacky crack pairing. Arigato! **_

Kakashi: Yesss, for I am a gardener. My old magazines (the contents of which I shall not speak of until this is rated M) make great compost.

Never-Land: OKAY! Great, Kashi-kun, you're a pervert. Plus I am happy and flaily for I am listening to John Rutter's "O Be Joyful in The Lord", and even though I'm not really religious, this is THE. MOST. EPIC. CHOIR. ARRANGEMENT. EVAH. But it's a real ***** for my mom to play on the piano. ANYWAYS Haha, worship meee!

Kakashi: Right. Okaaaaay, I'm gonna go talk to Jiraiya…Ok? Ok? He's right over there, and I'm gonna talk to him now. Over there. THERE.

Never-Land: WTH? What did that wired blond dude put in your onigiri? Because right now you are NOT BEING BORING AND EPIC. This is laaaame.

Kakashi: I have no idea. But I think Sakura had something to do with it. They've been after my mask all week.

Never-Land: I really—MISS SAKURA, YOU WILL KINDLY GET OUT OF MY ROOM. AND, NARUTO? GET AWAY FROM. MY. DRAWER. OR. ELSE. *Whispers* Kashi-kun, run!

Disclaimer: Muffins, anyone? They're the only thing I own.

Oh, hi there? Have you been wondering where I've been? GOOD. Not my fault. Parents suuucckkkk. But I love this unicorn statue either way, so FTW. -_-;

Also, Asuma is alive here. Just saying.

Tide Over

Chapter Seven: Toast and a Hot Seat Intro

Temari stretched.

And stretched.

Aaaaannnnddddd stretched. God, Temari was happy. Her muscles felt like warm zingy mush when she relaxed her extended arms and taught back. The sun was out and it was summerrrrrrr!

Kakashi watched her, face slack and impassive. Her back was to him, and the wheelchair she was almost free of was parked in front of the kitchen window, on the patio.

"ASDFGHJKL—" he wailed. Whipping his hand away from the hot toaster, Kakashi muffled his mild swearing, turning on the tap to run his blistering finger under the water.

Oh, blah. Blah. This was just not cool, and Kakashi was THE definition of cool. He had been zipping around like a squirrel on crack for the past month, trying to alleviate the indefinable _tenseness_ that was his psyche as of late. It felt like a freaking Naruto was settled in his rib cage flailing over a ramen deficiency. It felt like how Kakashi felt when Rock Lee tried to tell the Mizukage that she was not being youthful enough in front of the entire two villages last fall. It felt—_oh holy mother of Buddha that was a freaking painful burn._ Gah.

The worst part of it was, mused Kakashi as he felt in a fanny pouch for a bandage, that he didn't know what was causing the tense feeling. Gai had noticed how Kakashi had stopped being laid-back right away, and…

_Kakashi walked down the street, shoulders rigid and orange book closed in one hand. The night was bright—it was the Sakura Festival and all of Konoha was lit up with pink paper lanterns and Sakura's new Sakura jutsu. With a dozen summoning scrolls and some placement advice from Ino Yamanaka, she had made it continually snow glowing cherry petals from a starry sky. The petals vanished the moment they came within six inches of a solid surface, including people. That way there was no irritating buildup of stuff you couldn't even make snowballs out of. _

_Kakashi had been hosting Temari for several months at this point, and she had been going into the garden every day for about three weeks. Kakashi had been watching that morning, and she had been picking day-lilies. For a minute he thought she had seen him, but the feeling passed and she returned to wheeling around the garden._

_One of the few bars in Konoha, the Flying Fox, was a favorite of Gai's on festival nights. Kakashi was late, but who gave a crap—he was late by default. The other jounin understood, mostly. Everybody has their own way of getting past grief, and Kakashi's was to disregard time and then spend the disregarded hours at the shinobi memorial. _

_The Flying Fox was a very bright, pulsing pink that night. A brilliant neon orange, winged fox clashed magnificently with the glowing streamers, the throbbing colors competing for attention from the crowded street. Kakashi gently shoved the heavy glass-and-steel door until he was able to slip through. He stuffed his unread book into his fanny pouch. _

_The inside of the Flying Fox was a total contradiction to its exuberant exterior. The bar was owned by a retired kunoichi who had placed several jutsus on the entire building. Kakashi's favorite was a Deafened Ears jutsu, created so that the racket of the crowd outside would not penetrate the ears of any patrons. Another jutsu detected when a person became too drunk to be coherent, and then lifted up that inebriated person on a cushion of air and dumped him or her in the street. _

_The entire atmosphere of the place was based on the color gold. The dim light was gentle, the seats all pale russet, and the low-pile carpet was patterned with moving, blinking fox eyes and wings. The bar was not crowded—but it was definitely full. Delicate flute music rippled almost inaudibly through the air._

_Gai, Asuma, Genma, and Inoichi were already there, sitting in a row at the bar counter. Gai had his usual Dragon sake, Asuma was slurping a (the pathetic lightweight, thought Kakashi with a smirk) gin and tonic, Genma was rocking the vodka shots, and Inoichi was trying to read the mind of a half-gone Bloody Mary. They had saved Kakashi a stool: Inoichi's ratty, clogged hairbrush sat on the seat beside him. Everybody had avoided the disgusting, fuzzy thing like it was a rotting Barbie head. _

_Sweeping the revolting object out of his way, Kakashi sat down. Inoichi barely glanced up. He had been busy with a captured Oto spy for the past week. Probably plotting a way to invade the poor girl's head._

_The barkeeper, a civilian, nodded at Kakashi. "…Gin and vodka martini, stirred…" Kakashi muttered. _

_Gai looked over a Kakashi. "Well, _Kakashi Hatake_, it seems you have something on you're your mind."_

_Kakashi shivered. Gah, tense feeling, begone!_

OOOOKKKKKKK. Thoughts? There WILL BE MORE COMING, I SWEAR.

And my glasses lens fell out of its frame again. How much did I pay for these, again? Gag.

BTW, I will love you forever if you review. And I will dance like an insane gnome if it is an awesome review. ; )


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